Long Road Home

Who will be homeward bound?

April 18, 2012 American Idol Show Notes:

Round One
Hollie: Rolling in the Deep, came out of her shell, excellent. Score 9.

Colton: Bad Romance by GaGa, futuristic rocker, liked it, needs to pronounce the end of his words for all the non-deaf listeners. Score: 8.

Elise: No One by Alicia Keys, rough-edge rocker wearing orange curtains, OK but didn't really like it. Score: 7.

Phillip: You Got It Bad by Usher, cool slow Afro-beat, playing 12-string guitar, soulful, growly, true artist. Score: 9.

Jessica: Fallen by Alicia Keys, slow sexy song, pretty good, blended in with backup singers too much, needs more confidence. Score: 8. 

Skylar: Born This Way by GaGa, sounds like a pro, like her country version of any song, good choice, rockin country, effortless. Score: 9.

Joshua: Sang some gospel-sounding song, big notes sound pitchy and strained. Score: 7.

Round Two
Hollie: Son of a Preacher Man, narrow range, OK, nothing special. Score: 7.

Colton: Took a favorite Earth Wind and Fire song and made it his own, but I hated it. It sounded like a long slow ballad instead of the original upbeat clean energy. Sounds like he's crying. Score: 7.

Elise: Let's Get It On, she has an incredible instrument, mature voice, but the judges did not like it, and talked too much, bad sign. Score: 7.

Phillip: Wait Til The Midnight Hour, no guitar, awkward movement, more of the same, one-trick pony? Score: 7.

Jessica: Try A Little Tenderness, stepped out and gave a crazy big-voice performance. Score: 9.

Skylar: Heard It Thru The Grapevine, more of the same countryization of a good choice for her, but she too is a one-trick pony, but has fun up there. Score: 8.

Joshua: Surprisingly chose a Civil Rights song, sounded like a slow gospel which is maybe a good choice for him, but I would not pay to go hear him as the tone of his voice is not pleasing to my ears. Sorry. Score: 6.

Bottom Three: Joshua, Elise, Colton.
Hopefully going home: Joshua.

Seven To Six

Going from Seven 2 Six

American Idol show notes for April 11, 2012 in order of performance:

1. SkyLar Laine: Still improving, strummed a guitar to a country song, delivered the goods, could win it. Score: 8

2. Colton Dixon: Sat at and played a piano, nice controlled performance and vocals, not his normal red-faced pained look. Score: 8

3. Jessica Sanchez: Sat on grand piano, so good, so mature for her young age, wow, she nailed a tough song. Her singing ability is inversely proportional to her size. Score: 8.5

4. Joshua Ledet: Gave a great performance of a Bruno Marvelous song, great song choice, but a few big notes toward the end turned me off. Score: 8

5. Hollie Cavanaugh: My early fave gave a subpar performance, pitchy, too serious of a song choice, judges were awkwardly negative. Score: 7

6. Phillip your tank: More of the same good stuff. Score: 8

7. Elise Navidad: Great song choice to show off her abilites, slow rock song, maintained control. Score: 8

Best of the Night: Jessica!
Could go home: Hollie!

Back To The Future

  American Idol goes to songs of the 21st Century. Seven contestants will soon be down to Six. Here is how Johnnny ranked them this week: #1 Casey Abrams: A+ In it to win it. So frickin good. Matches his best so far. #2 James Durbin: A- Awesome as usual. Not that crazy about it. Bit extreme. Futuristically cool. #3 Haley Reinhart: B+ My favorite of hers so far. Not too growley. Bit of the yodeler. Great choice for her. Nicely confident. #4 Scotty McCreery: B+ Nice medium upbeat performance. On pitch. Safe but boring. #5 Lauren Alaina: B+ Enough to stay in competition. Just OK. Needs to step it up. Enough make-up for a week. #6 Stefano Langone: C+ Tone of voice is shrill. Stopped singing half way thru. Trying to be too sexy man. #7 Jacob Lusk: C+ Don't pick songs that make you start crying. Tired of Mr. Overly Dramatic Scream Fest.

Top 7

American Idol Top 7
Inspirational Songs

Top Group: Crystal.
Middle Group: Lee, Casey, Mike.
Bottom Group: Siobhan, Aaron, Tim.
Going Home: Siobhan.